Polymorphism in microRNA-196a2 contributes to the risk of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes patients

To investigate the effect of the microRNA-196a2 gene polymorphism (rs11614913) on risk of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes patients.

We examined 920 patients with diabetes and 834 healthy controls. All subjects were genotyped for the miRNA-196a2 SNP by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction analysis.

The genotype distribution among controls and patients was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p=0.227 and 0.308, respectively). The frequency of the T allele was lower in patients than in controls (p=0.044). The odds ratio 0.66 (95% CI 0.54-0.79) suggests an association of the T allele with decreased risk of T2DM. For the main purpose of the study, T2DM patients were stratified into patients with CVD and those without it. The T allele and TT genotype were significantly more frequent in patients with CVD compared to those without CVD (p=0.013, p<0.001, respectively). The odds ratio for the T allele in the CVD+subgroup vs. CVD- was 1.76 (1.35-2.30), p<0.0001, mostly due to the overrepresentation of TT homozygotes. The highest risk of development of CVD was observed in the additive model for TT homozygotes (OR 3.33, 95% CI 2.05-5.42, p<0.0001).

Our findings suggest that miRNA-196a2 T/C polymorphism (rs11614913) is associated with an increased risk of CVD in type 2 diabetes patients. This provides further insights on pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes patients.